lyman



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- G. E. LYMAN su G. N. LYMAN, Jr.

- PLAX WORKING MBCHANISM.

No. 542,770. Pagexnted July 16,1895.

(No Model.) 3 sheets-sheet 2.

C. E. LYMAN & G. N. LYMAN, Jr.

FLAX WORKING MEGHANISM.

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(No Model.) 3 sheetssheet 3. G. E. LYMAN 8v Gr. N. LYMANJI.

.VFLAX WORKING MBGHANISM..

Patented July 16, 1895..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OEYLON E. LYMAN AND GEORGE N. LYMAN, JR., OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

FLAx-woRKlNG MECHANISM.

SPECIFIGA'JJION forming part of yLetters Patent-Nd 542,770, dated July 16` 1895.

Application filed February 23, 1895. Serial No. 539,440. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern,.-

Be it'known that we, CEYLON E. LYMAN and GEORGE N. LYMAN, Jr., citizens of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Flax-Working Mechanisms; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to mechanism for working flax or other fiber-bearing material, such as hemp, sisal, dac., with a view of separating the fiber from the shive or woody matter of thelax, straw, or other stock.

The invention involves as its chief feature the organization of a series'of machines or mechanisms into a plant capable of automatic and efficient action at comparative small cost.

Other features relate to certain details of construction forimproving the action of some parts ofthe mechanism on the stock.

The several novel features of our invention` parts.

Figure 1 is a left-side elevation of our improved mechanism with some parts broken away and others removed. Fig. 2 is a view chiey in longitudinal vertical section but partly in left-side elevation, showing the construction Aand relationvof one pair of the series of combined brakes and pickers and one of the intervening separating conveyers for receiving from the forward and delivering to the rearward member of said combined brakes and pickers. Fig. 3 is a left-side elevation of the cleaner shown as the foot member or last member of the series of machines, to the action of which the stock is subjected in the plant illustrated in Fig. l, some parts being broken away. Fig. 4t is a plan view of the said cleaner with some parts broken away.

Referring to Fig. l, A' A2 A3 A4 represent a series of combined brakes and pickers set tandem and spaced apart from each other. B B2 B3 represent a corresponding series of separating-conveyers, arranged one between each pair of said combined brakes and pickers and receiving from the forward and delivering to the rearward member thereof.

C is la cleaner to which the stock is subjected, as the last step of the process, after passing from the combined brake and picker A4. Y F is an endless carrier under-running the entire series of the above-noted machines, and working over a deck F', for receiving the shive or Woody matter from all of the said machines and conducting the same away to any point desired, such, for example, as to the furnaceroom, (not shown,) for use as fuel.

G G2 G3 G4 are a series of constantly-running counter-shafts from which, through snit` able driving-belts, motion is imparted to the several machines of the plant.

The several combined brakes and pickers are all of the same construction, so far as the operative mechanism is concerned, and each involve a brake and a picker or hackle. The brake is made up of a stack or series of steepled and staggered rollers a5, journaled in suitable boxes, loosely mounted for sliding movement in vertical guideways in the-side plates of the frame a6 a7 and subject to springpressure from springs a8, reacting between the top yoke a9 of the frame and the top member of the series of rollers a5. The rollers are tluted and so set in their respective boxes al as to be staggered, and the said boXes are of such size as to permit the flutes or teeth of the one roller to nearly reach, but not quite touch, the bottom of the groove in its co-operating roller, so as to operate without cutting the fiber. A shaft a has a pulley cl2 at its right end connected .by belt g with the proper counter-shaft for that machine. The left end of the shaft a has a pinion (112% engaging a gearwheel 0.13 on the left end of the lowermost member of the luted braking rollers 0.5. These connections give motion Ytothe whole series of the rollers a5 in the proper directions. The stock is fed in between the top pair of said rollers a5 and pursues a zigzag course from the top to the bottom of the series, as shown by the arrows in Fig. 2, and is guided or changed in direction as required by the detlectors or guides a, The said deiiectors or guides a are pivoted in angular slots a, as shown in Fig. 2, which permits the same both to swing and slide outward when required to afford clearance' for the passage of IOC the stock and prevent clogging from tangled masses or bunches thereof. leaves the lowermost pair of said brakingrollers a5itis received by the hackle or picker drum aw, with which co-operates a concave comb a in the overarching hood als. The hood or cover als is connected to the frame by slot-and-pin connections al, as shown in Fig. 2, and, has legs a2", which loosely support the same when in its lowermost position, which construction permits the hood to rise, it' necessary, to atord clearance for the pas sage of any excess or tangled masses of stock. The picker-drum am has on its left end a pulley @21, connected by cross-belt g with the next rearward member of the counter-shafts -Gr2 G3, &c., for imparting motion to the drum in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 2. 'lhe machine-frame a6 a7 is bolted or otherwise made fast to a pair of longitudinal sleepers f2, which rest directly over the undei-lying or ground-sills f3. The said pairs of sills]C2 and j"3 are spaced apart from each other and form a trough for the shive-carrier F. The deck F for the shive-carrier F is shown as secured between the upper and lower pairs of the said longitudinal sills f2 and f3. The bottom sills f3 rest on the floor f4, and the door is thereby made to serve as a return deck or guide for the return fold or section of the shive-carrier F.

Each of the separating-conveyers B B2 B3 consists of a suitable frame b4 b5, supported from the sills f2, or otherwise, in an angular or inclined position, an endless carrier b of the slat-and-chain variety, with the slats spaced apart short distances onl y, carriershafts 117 with sprockets hs engaged by the chains of the carrier, side boards b9 fixed to the frame with an idle roller Z110 near the upper end of the same, an idle roller b on the upper end of the frame beyond the carriershaft 127, a chute-board Z912, and a pulley 1213, connected by belt g2 to the countershat't adjacent thereto. The head member of the series of combined brakes and pickers is provided with a feed-board 122 and a foot-board agsfor an operator M, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

The cleaner C has mounted thereon, within the skeleton-frame c', a screen-frame c2 with wire screen c3 of large mesh. The screenframe` c2 is connected to the main frame c by hangers c4. At the head of the cleaner-frame is located a crank-shaft c5, the cranks of which are connected by pitmen c6 with the screen-frame c2. The crank-shaft c5 is provided with a pulley c7, which is connected by belt g3 with the adjacent counter-shaft. The cleaner is also provided with a combined fan and beater cs, supported directly over the screen c2 c3, and having a pulley c9 on its shaft for imparting motion thereto from the crankshaft c5 through abelt 01, connecting the same with the inside pulley c11 on the 'shaft c5. A chute-board 012 is shown for directing the stock delivered from the screen to the floor or other point desired. The underrunning As the stock shive-carrier F is mounted on suitable shafts, one of which is shown at]E5 in Figs. l, 3, and 4. Said shaft f5 is shown as provided with sprockets f6, engaging the chains of the said carrier F and as having a pulley f7, connected by belt]08 to'a pulley on the lett end of the crank-shaft c5 of the cleaner, which connections will impart motion for moving the shive carrier F in the direction shown by the arrows. The said shive-carrier F has been thus shown as driven from the crank-shaft c5 of the cleaner, simply as a matter of convenience for illustration; but in practice the said carrier F is ordinarily driven from the other end by a belt from theline-shaft. (Not shown.)

Having regard to the action of the mechanism above described, the same may be brietly stated, as follows: The iiax straw or other fiber-bearing material is hand-ted by an operator M to the head member A' of the combined brakes and pickers. All the subsequent actions are automatic. The stock, for example, as it passes from the head machine A is received by the separating-con veyer B and delivered by the endless carrier 196 thereof to the top pair of rollers of the next rearward combined brake and picker A. From A2 the stock is received bythe'conveyer B2 and delivered to the machine A, and so on to the last or rearmost member of the said combined brakes and pickers, whence the stock passes to the cleaner C. Under the action of the tinted brake-rollers of the woody matter of the straw is broken up and more or less set free from the ber by the crushing and rubbing action of the said rollers. By

the picker or hackle-drum ae, in combination with the overarching concave cone a, the woody matter and the fiber are loosened up and separated and the fiber combed out to a greater or less extent. Under the action of the endless carriers haof the conveyers B the woody matter which was broken up by the brakes and pickers, but left lodged in the fiber, together with the dust and dirt, will fall out and pass down through the slats of the carrier. In this way, by the successive actions of the several machines, by the time the stock reaches the cleaner C the shive or woody matter will have become thoroughly broken up and loosened from the ber and most of the same will have been removed and dropped on to the shive-carrier F. Considerable inelydivided woody matter or shive, together with more or less dust, sand, and dirt will still re main with the ber when the stock reaches the cleaner C. Under the action ofthe cleaner this loose foreign material will be removed and the fiber will be delivered in its finished state over the end of the screen ready for baling and shipping. In the cleaner the stockis subject to the shaking action ofthe screen and the beating-and-blast action of the fan, which combined actions are very effective for the purposes had in view.

Inasmuch as the shive-carrier F under-runs IOO all ofthe said machines above noted the woody matter or stock removed from the fiber by the said machines in their action on the straw or stock will all fall on to the said carrier F and be conducted off to the furnace or other point desired.

From the foregoing description itlwill be seen that only one man is required for feeding the entire plant, or, as above stated, the feed after the head machine is automatic. This is a great improvement in mechanisms for working iiax straw or other similar material. Hitherto, so far as we are aware, the different machines to which the stock has been subjected in succession have always been hand-fed, thereby requiring the stock to be rehandled at every machinewith the extra expense of one or more men for each machine.

Our mechanism, as above arranged, will therefore effect a saving of at least four men, even supposing that the men would handle the stock as rapidly as the automatic feed devices. As a matterof fact, however, theautomatic feed-devices will handle the stock more rapidly on'account. of their uniform and continuous action. Hence, if the head machine of the plant be fed up to its full capacity, which maybe insured by the use of two or more operators, if necessary, all the other machines will keep up therewith without being subject to the delaysincidental to the intermittent or irregular hand -feeding action. Moreover, this form of mechanism insures better results in point of quality. All the stock is subjected to exactly the same kind and extent of treatment. Hence, supposing the straw to be of the same kind and in the same condition, the grades of the nished product will run uniform and the quantity of finished product for a ton or other unit of straw will be nearlythe same. Under the hand-feeding actions hitherto employed for the successive machines this result of uniform grade and uniform quantity cannot be secured, because the different feeders will handle the stock differently and will vary the percentage of waste.

We have shown a mechanism with four combined brakes and pickers, with the necessary intermediate feeding and cleaning conveyers, and a single final cleaner; but it will be understood, of course, that the number of the said machines may be varied according to the kind or condition of straw to be worked or according to the grade of nished product desired. The number of machines shown will produce tow of the highest grade required for upholstering. For some other grades of tow two or three combined brakes and pickers are suiicient.

The form of brake herein shown composed of a stackof steepled and staggered tinted rollers is similar to the machine disclosed in the McGrath and Smith patent, No. 456,156,

dition of the concave 'overarching comb for co-operation with said drum, and in certain other details relating to the mounting of the guides L14 and the hood am.

The mechanism herein shown and described, however, and the other'featurcs defined in the annexed claims are of our invention.

What we claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows: l. A' mechanisml for working flax straw or other material, comprising a series of combined brakes and pickers, each having steepled and staggered uted rollers, anda picker or hackle drum with cooperating concave or comb receiving from said rollers, a series of separating conveyers, located one between each of said combined brakes and pickers and having endless carriers receivingfrom vthe foot of the advance member and delivering to thetop of the rearward member thereof, a cleaner receiving from the last member of said combined brakes and pickers, and an endless carrier under-running all of said machines` for receiving and conducting oft' the shive dropped from said machines, substantially as described.

2. A mechanism for working flax straw or other material, comprising a series of combined brakes and pickers, each havinga stack of steepledand staggered fluted rollers and a picker or hackle drum with co-operating concave or comb receiving from said rollers, a

series of separating conveyers, located one between eachpair of said combined brakes and pickers and having endless carriers receiving from the foot of the advanced member and delivering to the top of the rearward member.

thereof, a cleaner, provided with a shaking.

screen and a'beater fan, receiving from the last member of said combined brakes and pickers, and an endless carrier under-running all of said machines, for receiving and conducting off the shive dropped from said machines, substantially as described.

3. In a brake, for flax or other material, the combination with the series or stack of stee- .pledrand staggered and iiuted rollers a5, of the ford clearance'to the stock, when necessary,

to avoid clogging, substantially as described.

4. In a combined brake and picker, the combination with the picker drum als, of the hood als, having therein the toothed concave or comb a, and having slot and pin connection alg, for lpermitting the hood to rise on a straight line under vthe pressure of the stock, when necessary, to afford clearance, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof We afx our signatures inpresence of two witnesses.

CEYLON E. LYMAN. GEORGE N. LYMAN, JR. Witnesses:

JAS. F. WILLIAMsoN, F. D. MERCHANT.

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